New pool owner needs help!

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pagreenpool

Well-known member
May 22, 2017
57
Allentown, PA
I bought a house last fall that has a pool, took the cover off about a month ago and the pool is pretty green. But it was in better shape than I thought it would be.

I a little overwhelmed at where to begin. I have no pool experience. I brought a pool guy out to open it who was giving me lots of information but not too much about the water chemistry.

I bought some test strips at the local pool store but quickly realized I needed a better test kit. I've researched lots and watched a lot of videos but need some help getting my pool going :) Hopefully that is where you helpful people come in!

My pool is a chlorine pool, I estimated the size at 22,000 gallons. It's in ground with a vinyl liner. It's about 6-7 years old (I think, a rough guess). It's got a DE filter, 2 skimmers. I'll get some pictures up.

I have the test kit but haven't started using it yet. When the guy opened the pool, he dumped around 4 gallons of chlorine in. I've been running my pump 24/7 since then (that was a couple weeks ago). It hasn't really made much of a dent. I dumped another 5 gallons in a few days ago and it cleared up a little bit more but it's still pretty green.

So instead of blindly dumping chlorine in I figured let me get some help. I know I need to do some tests. What is the first test to do? One of the videos I watched said test your CYA first. If it's not correct, it limits the ability of the chlorine to do it's work.

Thanks everyone!
 
AimeeH said:
Welcome to TFP :)

Which test kit did you get? Can you go ahead and run the tests and post them like this for us?

FC (free chorine)
CC (combined chlorimines)
PH
TA (total alkalinity)
CYA (cyruranic acid/stabilizer)

Here are links to start reading
Pool School - ABCs of Pool Water Chemistry
Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain
Pool School - Chlorine / CYA Chart

and post questions :)
Click to expand...

I've got the taylor K-2006 test kit

FC 0-0.2 ppm. The water was hardly pink to begin with, just very slightly pink. After 1 drop, there was no sign of pink
CC 0-0.2 ppm. Same as above... could essentially be zero
PH < 7.0, the color was more yellow than the bottom color on the scale (the 7.0)
TA 10ppm - took 1 drop to change from green to red
CYA < 30. I could see the black dot the whole time even after filling up the container the whole way.

Clearly I need help!!!!
 
Welcome to TFP!

Before anything else you want to get your pH and TA fixed, your water is extremely acidic. With a TA that low you want to add enough baking soda to bring you up to 50 or so (use the PoolMath tap at the top to calculate how much baking soda to add), let it circulate an hour, then retest the pH and adjust that to 7.2. Once you get that fixed you can work on lining up your CYA and starting to SLAM, but your pH being that low makes it a top priority.

I know the whole thing seems overwhelming now, but don't worry, you already know more than most people! Ask any questions, we are happy to help you get things going and get your pool cleared up. Glad you found us, you are going to really like what a TFPC pool is like once you get the hang of it.
 
Thanks for your help. So attached is my poolmath thing. Your advise was to focus on TA right now. Mine is 0-10ppm. Just try to get it up to 50 to start? According to the pool math that is 207oz of baking soda which is 13 lbs. Don't they come in 13 lbs bags (arm and hammer?)

Do pool supply stores usually carry the larger bags?

Thanks again for getting me started.
 
Yep, just get it to 50 for now. Any baking soda you find at a pool store is likely being sold as TA increaser with a huge markup, I would steer clear of there for baking soda. I think the big box stores will have large bags of baking soda in their pool section so you can start there. While you are there you can pop in to the laundry aisle to grab a few pounds washing soda to use to raise your pH once your TA is back to something reasonable. Once you add the baking soda and it is mixed you will probably get a more readable pH reading and can use PoolMath to figure out how much washing soda to add to get to 7.2 and on your way. Don't forget to pick up bleach/liquid chlorine too.

Washing soda is sodium carbonate, the same stuff sold as "pH increaser". Normally I would steer you towards borax for minor pH raises but with your low TA and the large increase you are aiming for washing soda is the best option for you right now IMO.
 
I added a 13 lbs bag of baking soda ($5 at sams club!) and it worked as advertised. Brought the TA up to 50. My pH also came up to a more readable level, but it's still at the bottom of the chart (7.0). The CYA is still less than 30, can see the black dot with the tube filled up.

So whats next, raise the pH to 7.2? Use the poolmath to figure what I need? It's showing to go from 7.0 to 7.2 with a TA of 50 I need to add 22oz of washing soda. Should that be my next step, to get the pH up to 7.2? What about the TA, leave it at 50 or add another bag of baking soda to get it to 100? When does the chlorine come?!

Thanks. See attached poolmath
 
1. Add enough CYA to get to 30 ppm. Don't test for it...assume it's there.

2. Add enough washing soda to get your pH to 7.5....your TA will come up, too.

What does your water look like?

Don't bother with those screenshots......too small to read and don't need them
 
duraleigh said:
1. Add enough CYA to get to 30 ppm. Don't test for it...assume it's there.

2. Add enough washing soda to get your pH to 7.5....your TA will come up, too.

What does your water look like?

Don't bother with those screenshots......too small to read and don't need them
Click to expand...

I added the CYA to get it up, but didn't test.

For raising the pH, I bought something called "pH Up" at home depot. It's 100% sodium carbonate, which I believe is the same as washing soda? What should I try to raise the pH to, an earlier poster said 7.2 but you say 7.5?

Sorry I didn't realize you can't click on my attachments to make them bigger.

As far as what my water looks like, I included some shots of it. It's green! Thanks again for your help.
 
Add enough pH+ (high priced washing soda) to get to 7.2 as you need to SLAM. Once you confirm your CYA level, use the FC/CYA chart and SLAM away with bleach. You will need to check FC and add bleach every 2 hours or so for awhile until you see the FC not drop quickly. You can then lengthen out your testing period.

You will most likely needs lots of Bleach.

Good Luck!
 

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mknauss said:
Add enough pH+ (high priced washing soda) to get to 7.2 as you need to SLAM. Once you confirm your CYA level, use the FC/CYA chart and SLAM away with bleach. You will need to check FC and add bleach every 2 hours or so for awhile until you see the FC not drop quickly. You can then lengthen out your testing period.

You will most likely needs lots of Bleach.

Good Luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks. So when I SLAM, I should plan on being around the whole day? Is it OK to do some in the morning and then come back the next day and do another dose? Or is it better to just plan to be around the whole day?

Should I use pool chlorine or bleach? I'm guessing costco sells big containers of bleach... is there anything I should be looking for on the label? Thanks
 
Typically you will need to test your FC and add bleach every 2-3 hours for the first day. Then after need to at least go to a 4 times per day cycle if at all possible. Work it into your schedule as much as you can. Remember that every time your FC falls below your SLAM level algae has a chance to grow again. Pool School - SLAM - Shock Level And Maintain

Pool Chlorine and Bleach are the same thing. Most normal household bleach (Clorox, Walmart Great Value, etc) is 8.25% strength. You might be able to find 10% or 12% at Walmart, Pool Stores, etc. Check the date, Chlorine Date Code Decoder/Easy Way to Measure Strength..

Good Luck!
 
Thanks everyone for help. Still working on the pool. A couple more questions:

I've been trying to get my CYA up. It started at zero. I used the pool math calculator and to get it up to 30 it called for 5 lbs, so I added a 5 lb container. Let that sit a couple days. Tested again, but I could see no difference. When I filled up the test tube, I could still easily see the black dot when it was all the way to the top. So I added another 5 lb container. Now, I can see a difference. The water is hazy when filling up to see the black dot. However, even with that tube all the way filled up, I can see the black dot (but it's definitely a lot harder).

This leads me to my first question: when you do this test, it says the block dot should barely be visible. I'm filling the tube up all the way (even above the 30 mark), and I can still see the black dot pretty easily. Is that "barely visible"? Should I just move on to the next step? It would see my CYA is still fairly low. How long does it take for the CYA to stop raising? Pool math says "It can take solid stabilizer up to a week to dissolve". Is the granular pool stabilizer considered solid?

When bringing up the pH, how long does it take to see a difference in the pool?

I'm still trying to get my CYA and pH levels correct before SLAMing but as you can see I am having some issues!
 
If you added the granular stabilizer to the skimmers then it can take a week or so to show up on a test. My advice is not to add any more. We generally reccomend adding it in a sock hanging in front of a return. Yes, an old tube sock or athletic sock. This way you can see when it is dissolved as opposed to those granules getting caught up in your filter to dissolve.

I would proceed with SLAM assuming your CYA is what pool math says it is by adding as much as you did.
 
I just spread the granular stabilizer around the pool. It seems to have worked but I think my CYA levels are still coming up a little bit. I brought my pH up to 7.2 and started the SLAM process this morning. Based on the CYA/Shock chart, I should be looking for a shock level of 10-12. Poolmath calculated 3 jugs of the bleach I purchased so I dumped those in.

Now I want to keep the level at 12, correct? So every couple of hours I test the FC and keep adding bleach/chlorine as necessary to keep it at that level? Should I test after the initial 3 jugs got poured in to see if it got to the level I was shooting for? Our pool is pretty green (see pictures above), isn't it never really going to get up to that level? How soon after dumping the bleach in should I test?

Thanks
 
I'm SLAMing away, but every time I check it (every couple of hours), the FC is in the 2-3 range. I add enough liquid chlorine to get it up to shock level which I've calculated around 10. Should I just assume it's getting up to 10? I'm using poolmath to figure out I need about a gallon of chlorine each time.
 
At end of first day of slam:

FC = 2.2ppm
CC = 5.6ppm
pH = 7.0
CYA = 30
TA = 70

The only thing I am confused about, I can't get my FC to shock level which I am guessing is around 10-12 in my case. If I take the reading 30 min after dumping chlorine, it's still about the same (2-3 range).
 
That pool will look great once it's cleaned up!
 
You are killing the algae. It is consuming your chlorine -- keep adding it to get to your Shock level as often as you can.
 

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